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EDITORIAL: A real catastrophe: Hurricane Maria’s revised death toll

New York Daily News, The (NY)

Aug. 12--On his visit to San Juan last October, cheerleader-in-chief Donald Trump said Puerto Rican and federal officials could be "very proud" that unlike in "a real catastrophe" like Hurricane Katrina, the island had suffered only 16 confirmed deaths.

That low official count, later upped to 64, helped buoy the President's grade of his own administration's relief efforts, which he insisted were far superior to those orchestrated by President Bush and the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 2005 New Orleans storm: a "10 out of 10," said Trump.

We eagerly await the President's new assessment of the federal response now that the Puerto Rican government has revised its estimated death toll upward to 1,427.